Arcade picks: The GENERATIONALS

The cold weather may be setting in, but the warming glow of the Generationals sticks around all year. With the release of their invigorating debut album Con Law, the New Orleans-based band’s feel-good, sunshine pop is the perfect accompaniment for a walk through Audubon Park or across the academic quad.

The Generationals — consisting of Ted Joyner and Grant Widmer (ex-members of pop outfit The Eames Era), Katie Clark and Tess Brunet, bring a similar style of indie pop as their last band, but this time around, it’s steeped in ’60s nostalgia. Take the fantastic “When They Fight, They Fight” for example, which blends good time sounds and sing-a-longs into a story darker than its sweet tones would imply.

Ted Joyner recently talked to the arcade about the band’s past, present and future.

How’s the tour going?
We’ve been out since about the middle of October. Right now we’re in Salt Lake City, and we’re about to leave to play a show in Reno tonight.

What’s the story behind the name Generationals?
It was kind of Grant’s idea. We had been looking for a name for a long time. It’s a frustrating process finding a name that you’re willing to live with for a long time. When we were recording the record, we were up in D.C. It was the summer before the election. There was so much “Obama versus McCain” and “young people versus old people” and issues would be split down generational lines. The word generational came up a lot and we just pluralized it and made it our name.

How about Con Law?
That again was Grant’s idea. I think it’s some kind of class you take in law school, and he just thought it sounded cool.

What was the transition from The Eames Era to Generationals?
At some point in 2007, pretty much everyone in The Eames Era decided, for one reason or another, that they all just wanted to do different stuff. A couple of them moved to Chicago, we moved to New Orleans. So we kind of just scattered everywhere. There was never an official breakup, it just became clear that we weren’t going to tour and make music together anymore. Grant and I both had more songs in the works, so we decided to pool them together and try to make another record of it. [Producer] Dan Black, who worked with us on the last Eames Era record, was encouraging us to do another record and just sort of see what came of it.

Were those songs originally going to be Eames Era tracks?
Maybe, if you could go back to another dimension of time. A lot of them, could have ended up being Eames Era songs. But if they had been, they probably would have ended up sounding different. We lost Ashlin, our singer, so we were stuck doing our own singing and, inevitably, the songs came out sounding different.

You played at Voodoo a couple weekends ago; was that your first festival, and how was it?
Voodoo was fun. It rained a little bit, but it was still fun. The people we worked with were all really on the ball and really professional. It was not our first festival. We played Monolith up in Colorado a couple months ago. But, it was actually my first time going to Voodoo.

What New Orleans acts, if any, have influenced your style?
I listened to a lot of Irma Thomas when we were making Con Law, but I wouldn’t necessarily say her influence can be felt in the album. Grant and I grew up listening to The Meters a lot, and I’d say that kind of has some sort of subconscious influence on us. That’s not to say that we’ve got a really funky sound. But when you listen to the old albums, it does make you appreciate analog recording, which is what we did. We recorded using tape. To Dan’s credit, in some cases, we wanted to make it sound maybe old, like ’60s, kind of sound.

How would you describe your style?
It’s pretty pop influenced. In truth, I think there are a lot of different sounds on the record. We draw from a lot of disparate styles.

What does the future hold for you guys?
We’re going to be on the road until late November, and we’re hoping to record some new stuff late this year. We want to hit the road again sometime in February or March. We want to do a lot more touring and put out a couple more records.

Favorite hangout spots in New Orleans?
I really like Stein’s Deli. I used to go to The Saint an awful lot, but I haven’t really been there in awhile. For now, I’ll say Stein’s Deli on Magazine Street.

If you’re interested in seeing the band when they get back from their tour, don’t miss their performance Nov. 27 at The Republic New Orleans.